Finance Minister Harris Lists Areas that Should Facilitate Growth

(ZIZ News) — During a post-Budget Address interview with Prime Minister Dr. Hon. Timothy Harris, he said, generally, his administration has increased financial support across line ministries within the government.

When asked about the areas that are expected to stimulate growth and provide increased revenue, he spoke of the support that is being given to the Ministry of Tourism.

“There was significant resources being put to the Tourism Ministry,” he said, noting that “We had significant breakthroughs in terms of a 1.2 million expected in cruise, an 8.5 percent increase in the first half, so we are expecting that Tourism will continue to be a significant programme.”

Dr. Harris said his administration also believes that the manufacturing sector can be further developed.

“We made mention to the fact of a new contract that Carib Brewery has had. We made mention to the fact that 50 new jobs are expected to be created at Harowe Server API and we are glad that the Development Bank has been able to partner with that,” he said as he revealed that the [Fresh Start Programme] had provided a “fresh start of small and medium sized business.”

“That programme is already oversubscribed and we have some 300 plus persons pending. I mean this is significant and it shows that there is a high demand for that kind of support to small business and commercial banks, in spite of their supposedly rich stock of liquid resources, they have not meet that particular challenge,” Dr. Harris added.